These are the top 10 cities for women in tech in 2019

The tech industry has long been under fire for not only its lack of diversity in staffing and leadership, but also for its lack of pay equity for women.

According to data from the Census Bureau, women in tech earn 84 percent of what their male counterparts make. A study released last year by software platform Carta found that men own 91 percent of employee and founder equity in Silicon Valley, leaving women with a measly 9 percent.

But certain places are friendlier to women working in tech than others are.

To get a clear idea of which U.S. cities are striving to provide equal opportunities for women in tech, personal finance company SmartAsset created the list of the Best Cities for Women in Tech in 2019. Using information from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey, SmartAsset examined data for cities that have 200,000 residents or more. Then, it ranked each city based off four factors: gender pay gap in the tech industry, income after housing costs, percent of women who make up the tech workforce and the percent change in employment growth from 2014 to 2017.

Similar to last year's ranking, Washington, D.C.; Baltimore, Maryland; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania continue to land in the top five. Cities more traditionally associated with tech, like San Francisco San Jose, California, ranked in the middle of the pack at No. 28 and No. 29, respectively, due to the gender pay gap.

Take a look below to see which cities provide the best opportunities for women in tech to thrive: